Pentagon Awards Bechtel $1.2B to Destroy Chemical Weapons Arsenal

Our Bureau

05:29 AM, April 1, 2020

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Dismantling of munitions using robotic process

The Pentagon has awarded Bechtel a deal pegged at $1.2 billion to destroy chemical weapons at a facility in Colorado.

“Bechtel National Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $1.2 billion modification to contract for operations at the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP). Work will be performed in Pueblo, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2023,” Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday.

The PCAPP facility was built to chemical weapons stockpile currently in storage at the US Army Pueblo Chemical Depot near Pueblo, Colorado.

The Bechtel Pueblo Team, which includes Bechtel, URS, Battelle Memorial Institute, and Parsons Infrastructure and Technology, won the competition in 2002 to design, build, test, operate, and ultimately close PCAPP after destroying the stockpile.

“Though never used by the United States, chemical weapons were stockpiled by the US Army at a number of bases during and after World War II. In 1985, Congress decided to turn the aging weapons into a harmless part of history. More than 2,600 tons of mustard agent in artillery projectiles and mortar rounds are stored here. After the chemical weapons have been eliminated, the plant will be closed in an environmentally responsible manner. Unlike other demilitarization facilities, this one dismantles munitions using a first-of-a-kind robotic process,” says Bechtel.

Destruction of this stockpile is a requirement of the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty to which the United States is a party.

In February 2020, PCAPP exceeded destruction of half of the agent stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot stockpile.

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